Leopard claws woman in safari bus at Karnataka Bannerghatta

BENGALURU: A 56-year-old woman suffered minor injuries when a leopard clawed at her hand during a safari at Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) on Thursday. Soon after the incident, the zoo management announced the closure of operations of non-AC safari buses in the park. The injured, Vahitha Banu, was immediately rushed to the nearest hospital. The incident, which happened around 1 pm, was captured in a mobile video by another tourist in the same bus. After the incident was posted on social media, netizens started to question the safety measures and some even demanded the closure of the leopard safari. This is the second such incident during the leopard safari in the recent past. In August 2025, a boy had suffered injuries during the leopard safari. According to eye-witnesses, the safari bus stopped at the leopard enclosure for a long time. There were many leopards around the bus. All of them were seated. One leopard started prowling around the bus and tried to climb on top, during which it scratched the hand of the woman and pulled down her veil, they said. BBP Executive Director AV Surya Sen told the TNIE that the leopard had scratched the womans forearm in the attempt to climb to the top of the bus. Unlike tigers, lions and sloth bears, leopards are very agile. Also the leopard safari is new. The animals housed are also very young, not more than two years old. They keep climbing around and if buses slow down or stop for long, they tend to climb on top of the buses too. This is what happened. Thus orders have been issued to stop all non-AC safari buses till further orders, he said. The Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) operates non-AC safari buses in BBP. The BBP management has also set a capacity of 8,000 visitors for various safaris per day.